Decline and Fall Campaign
Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 2:56 pm
Starting positions: 360 AD
FOG Legions Triumphant Campaign
This campaign is set in the middle of the Dominate Roman era, with the Romans trying to defend their borders against increasing barbarian pressure.
Design criteria:
• Fun for players, generates interesting battles
• Low maintenance from all
• Small and easily finished
• Capture feel of the era: Barbarians raid across border, try to pillage roman provinces. Roman army responds, barbarians either brought to battle or chased back across border. Romans initially very strong; weaken and lose control over time
Winning
• The Roman winner will be the player with the most Prestige when the game ends
• The Barbarian winner will be the player who has the most loot (total of both tribes) when the game ends
GAME SET-UP
The Romans
• 2 players: Eastern Emperor and Western Emperor
• Each have 2 armies [Eastern and Western Dominate (Early)]
• They each start with 1000 DAG Points (Pts), they assign between their 1st and 2nd armies
• Their armies can start in any province in their side of the Empire
The Barbarians
• 3 players, with 2 armies each:
1) Early Alemanni/Western Hunnic (Uldar)
2) Early Frankish/Early Ostrogothic
3) Sassanid Persian (mid)/Early Vandal
• One army (player choice) starts at 500 pts, the other at 300 pts
• All armies start in their homelands
TURN SEQUENCE
The campaign begins in 360AD
Each turn is one year
There are 3 phases in a year:
1. Orders
2. Battles
3. Admin
1. Orders
Orders for each army need to be submitted simultaneously by PM by a certain deadline. Any orders not submitted will be assumed to be HOLD
There are 2 possible orders for each army:
• MOVE from x to y
• HOLD
MOVE
• Moves can only be made over the marked roads
• Barbarian armies can move one province per year
• Barbarian armies can enter Constantinople from either side, but not cross the Bosphorus
• Roman armies can move two provinces per year by land, or move by sea from one province on the coast to any other province on the coast
Barbarians crossing the border
• Barbarian armies can only cross to adjacent border provinces:
o Franks and Alemanni can cross to Franks, Treveri, Argentoratum or Vindelicum
o Huns and Vandals can cross to Savaria, Alans, Sirmium or Dacia
o Goths can only cross to Thracia
o Persians can cross to Armenia or Babylonia
• Your army cannot cross if your other army is already in the Roman Empire (this may change when the barbarians become more confident and coordinated)
• If your army returns to its homeland, it must stay there for 2 full years [edit now 3 years] before it can raid again
• Roman armies can launch punitive raids across the border
• Barbarians can return to their homeland from any border province (or declare themselves "dispersed" from anywhere)
HOLD
• If a barbarian army holds in a province and is not attacked by the Romans, it will pillage that province. Pillaging:
o Gains the barbarians 100k Gold Solidus
o Loses the Roman Emperor protecting that province 1 Prestige
Paying Tribute to barbarians
Either Roman Emperor can negotiate with any barbarian player to pay shameful tribute rather than fight like a true Roman:
• It must be in units of 100k Gold Solidus
• The payment amount of shameful pay-off deals must be announced publicly in the forum
•You can pay the barbarians at any time for anything. Even for nothing, just to sow suspicion!
•The only enforceable part of a deal will be if the barbarian army agrees to return to its homeland. It will go there immediately the deal is announced, and normal rules apply – the barbarian army cannot re-cross the frontier for 2 full years
Determining Battle
• The general principle is that there will be a random dice to determine the sequence of army moves. As soon as Romans meet barbarians, these armies stop moving and give battle
• All battles will be announced in the forum
Most common situations:
• There is 100% chance of a DAG battle if one army holds and the other moves in, or if two armies move into the same province
• There is a 50% chance of a battle if one side moves in and the other side moves out of the same province (dice roll to see who moves first)
More complex example:
• Franks move Homeland to Franks. Romans move Belgica to Franks to Treveri
• If Franks move first (50%), Roman player will move second to Franks, be stopped and do battle there.
• If Romans move first (50%), they will go through to Treveri, then the Franks will cross the border to Franks, and no battle will take place.
• In this case, Franks will not be pillaged, for pillaging to take place, the barbarian army must order HOLD, and the Romans must not attack them
• Absurdly complex situations will be determined by the campaign facilitator
Multiple armies in a province
• Romans armies in the same province can combine: If over 600 points, armies will be scaled back proportionately for the battle
• Two armies on both sides will pair off randomly
Barbarian on barbarian fights
• Barbarian armies that find themselves in the same province will fight each other (before any Roman combat)
• Casualties of the fight are calculated as usual. If the barbarian leaders elect not to fight, or a draw where neither army reaches breaking point, 20% of each army leaves in disgust at their leaders lack of martial spirit.
• The Romans can cause two barbarian armies that are in adjacent provinces to fight each other – at a cost of 500k solidus (goes to bribe underlings, does not become loot)
2. Battle
Try to complete all battles within 1 week. Appoint a Magister Militum if you can’t play yourself!
Setting up the DAG game
• Romans have restrictions on their unit choice based on their current prestige
• Allies: If the battle takes place in an Allied province, the Romans MUST use allies. If the ally province gets pillaged, the Romans cannot use these allies for the rest of the game. Barbarian armies can pick any allies in their first battle; however, they must keep this selection for all future battles until they return to their homeland
• Both sides MUST select terrain choice of Very Open/Mixed/Very Crowded based on the province the battle is in. Don’t forget!
• Romans fighting in BORDER provinces receive 4-8 FREE Poor Limitanae (are these a help or a hindrance?). Treveri or Constantinople receive 100 point extra reinforcements - these must include the 8 poor Limitanae!
•Set up all DAG games at 600 points; this is the maximum army size and will ensure a medium sized map for all battles
• Romans post all challenges
After the battle
• The winner must write a battle report and post in the forum! The more colourful the better! See if you can rival Julius Caesar for PR.
• As well as the result, the winner should report any camps sacked, allies used, the casualties and new Point total for each army. Points are reduced proportional to casualties – e.g. a 500 Point army that suffers 3,000 casualties out of a total strength of 15,000 will have a new strength of 400 Points
• If a barbarians camp is looted, they will lose 100k of their loot (petty cash carried on campaign for expenses, the rest is stashed in a very confidential Swiss bank)
•If a Roman camp is looted, they will suffer an additional 1 prestige loss and the barbarian army will gain an extra 100k
Retreats
• The losing army must retreat. If the result is a draw, the barbarians must retreat
• Barbarians must retreat to the adjacent province that is closest to their homeland; will be determined at random if two are equal. If they are already in a border province, they are driven back across the border.
•Barbarian armies reduced below 250 points are considered "dispersed" and forced to return to their homeland (and suffer an extra 20% casualties)
• Romans must retreat to any adjacent province that is not occupied by an enemy army
• If all retreat paths are blocked, barbarians armies are "dispersed", Roman armies break-out through one enemy army, losing 33% of their strength in the rout
Raids on barbarian homelands
• Romans can raid barbarian homelands by ordering a move from any border province in that zone to a specific homeland
• They automatically return to the province they came from after the raid, whether successful or not
• If there is no opposing army, the raid is automatically successful
• If there is an opposing army in the homeland, the Roman fight a DAG battle; the barbarians receive +50BPs from their home warriors. Terrain as per a normal DAG battle
• If the raid is successful, and their army cannot reinvade the empire for 6 years and reinforcements are permanently reduced to 20 per year
3) Admin phase
The Admin phase consists of three stages in this order:
• Calculate prestige, loot and treasury
• Reinforce armies and transfer troops
• Events
PRESTIGE
The Roman generals win prestige for their achievements:
1) Winning and losing battles
Roman BP ratio____Roman disadvantage______Even________Roman advantage
___________________>15% Pts less______Within 15% Pts_____>15% Pts more
Decisive Victory >60%_________+4___________+3______________+2
Tactical Victory 60%-85%______+3___________+2______________+1
>85% Or Draw_______________0____________-1______________-3
Tactical Defeat 60%-85%_______-2___________-3______________-5
Decisive Defeat <60%__________-4___________-5______________-6
Camp looted -1 prestige extra
2) Trading Reinforcements
Sending 50 DAG Pts reinforcements to the other Emperor +1
Receiving 50 DAG Pts reinforcements from the other Emperor -1
Armies at maximum strength; no reinforcements taken +1
Emergency levies (50 DAG Pts) called up -2
3) Protecting Provinces
Each province in your Empire pillaged this turn -1 (-2 for Constantinople or Treveri)
Each year when no province in your Empire is pillaged +1
Each barbarian army FORCED to return to its homeland +1 both Emperors (only if "dispersed" or forced to retreat from a frontier province)
Each successful raid on a barbarian homeland +1
RESULTS OF PRESTIGE
Prestige of Emperor__Troop choice in battles_______Revolts_____________Generals__________Reinforcements
Less than -20_______50% of troops must be poor_____________________Troop only_____________+50 Pts
-10 to -20__________Must have 8 Poor Limitanae___Increased___________Troop only_____________+40 Pts
__________________No superior troops___________chance
-9 to +9____________Max 50% superior HF/MF________________________Troop and field only______+30 Pts
+10 to +20__________No restrictions_______________________________Any___________________+20 Pts
Greater than 20_____No restrictions______________Reduced___________Any___________________+10 Pts
___________________(allies reactivated)__________chance
BARBARIAN LOOT
• Barbarians receive 100k Gold Solidus for every province they pillage. Two armies pillaging a province will receive 50k each. 200k loot for pillaging Constantinople or Treveri
• They earn 100k for inflicting a tactical defeat on the Roman; 200k for a decisive defeat; +100k if the roman camp is sacked
• They take 100k from their fellow barbarians if they defeat them; 200k if the enemy camp is sacked
• They lose 200k if their homeland is raided successfully
• They can also get loot from the Romans as tribute
• The winning barbarian is the one who gains the most loot
REINFORCEMENTS
Romans
• Each Roman general receives 10-50 reinforcements a year that can be assigned to either army, number depending on the prestige of the Emperor
• An Emperor can call up emergency levies (50 Pts) at a cost of 2 prestige; there will be limits to the use of this
• Army maximum strength is 600 Pts; if both armies are at maximum strength, reinforcements not taken add to prestige
• Each Roman player can also transfer up to 50 Pts between armies (own armies or East to West)
Barbarians
• Each Barbarian army receives 50 Pts [edit now 30 points] of reinforcements if they are in their homeland; they receive nothing if they are raiding
• Army maximum strength is 500 Pts; reinforcements cannot be stored if they are at maximum strength
• No trading Pts between armies
STATUS POSTED
At the end of the admin phase, the current status of each player will be publicly posted here
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key ... ey=CLuwwCg
• Roman: Prestige; army strength and location
• Barbarian: Loot; army strength and location (and year to be able to invade again if in homeland)
EVENTS
As time goes on, events will shift in favour of the barbarians as the Roman Empire weakens
• They will gain the confidence to move deep into the empire
• More armies will be able to operate in the empire at the same time
• Emergency levies will dry up
• The Roman logistics network may deteriorate
There are three potentially rebellious provinces, Jerusalem, Dacia and Britannia. If they revolt, a 300-500 point rebel army is created there. It will not move out, it will Hold and pillage. It will be played in battle by a barbarian player. If it is forced to retreat it is destroyed, and the province will be peaceful again...for a while.....
Unforeseen
In any campaign like this, unforeseen things will come up, rules will be questioned and events may take place that are not accounted for in the rules. The campaign administrator will make a final and binding determination in such events and such will be final.
